Reading this thread can be kind of amusing to a long-term bitcoin investor.
I'm sure there is a lot of fun (and profit) to be made day-trading bitcoin (or anything else I guess), but I've never done that, nor have I ever even attempted to do so. It's just not my thing. I do play a game of poker socially from time to time and that's about as close as I get.
That said, I am still a bitcoin 'investor'. I own a measly 100 bitcoins. My average buy price was at $100 apiece, that's 10k, which is a decent chunk of change to me.
I have only bought bitcoins, I have never sold them.
My intention is to sell my coins in about 2-5 years when I expect them to be either (A) worth at least a couple of times what I paid or (B) worthless. I suppose I could make additional money day trading but, as I said, that's not my interest or expertise. I got a day job I gotta feed.
I would also like to use them to buy stuff, but this reveals an interesting psychology about bitcoin.
While you day traders churn the price for your entertainment and profit, it can make someone a little leery about using it as a 'currency' to buy things if their purchase also represents a loss.
So far I haven't actually 'lost' any money because I haven't sold any coins. I will only ever lose money if I sell them below the average $100 price I paid for them. But, if I use my bitcoin as a currency to actually buy something when the price is below a $100, then I *am* 'losing money' on that purchase. I would rather use fiat to buy it than realize the loss on my 'investment'.
The idea that bitcoin is both an investment/speculation and a currency at the same time can sometimes seem a bit schizophrenic.
I had this thought the other day when people were freaking out about the most recent 'crash'.
"Freaking out because the price of bitcoin rises or falls on any given day is like freaking out about your Apple stock because Steve Jobs yelled at Wozniak in 1980."
See ya all in about 2-5 years......